Monday, December 1, 2014

Nothing sidelined us in 2014 – track time was down but road time was very much up!

As I wrapped up the last post for 2013 I made the
observation that with the onset of winter we were limited to just one car, that
being the Jeep, summer tires and all! I also made reference to how our
thoughts were already turning to spring and for 2014 to be a time for further
exploring of the Americas. How little did I know and how central to our plans
the Jeep became. Contrary to what some of you thought, this red Jeep of ours
has been the go-to vehicle for most of our travels and oh yes, if I were to sum
up 2014, it was a year where we explored the Americas “to the extreme”!

However, before we dig into that a little further, we have celebrated
Thanksgiving and are preparing for Christmas. The snow has already made its
presence felt and by all accounts, the ski fields in the mountains to the west are
going to provide a splendid playground for all those so inclined and I wouldn’t
be surprised at all if we saw a few more visitors drop by than in previous
years. While the house has been on the market for over a year, there have been
no offers and Margo and I are resigned to the fact we will likely remain in the
village of Niwot for quite a while – not a bad second prize, I have to admit.

We returned to Boulder from California only a week or so ago and we timed the
trip perfectly ducking between serious winter snow storms such that we had more
sunshine overhead than clouds, although not entirely unexpected, the winds
across Wyoming were fierce so much so that light, high-profile vehicles were
prohibited from being on the interstate. Even so, we passed two big rigs on
their side – a reminder that the winds of Wyoming are unforgiving at this time
of year. In retrospect, looking back at 2014, while it was a year that yes,
passed quickly, we covered a lot of ground literally and figuratively and there
was very little that sidelined either of us.

A short time ago I had cause to visit the garage and
there’s been quite a change this year – gone is the Viper SRT/10 but in its
place, the Jeep SRT/8 looks every bit as beefy as the Viper. When I consider
that the price of the Jeep was only a tad shy of $10K less than the price of
the Viper (back in 2008), it does make me realize that the price of toys is
just going up and I suspect we are now on the slow, gradual, slide that leads
to compact cars and minivans. Not! No, there’s little chance that will happen
but future purchases will be measured against that old stalwart expression, “instead
of what”?

But the picture above is very symbolic of 2014 – there were wonderful times on
track in the Corvette about which much has been written even as most of our
seat time on America’s highways was behind the wheel of the Jeep. In the other
garage sit the Maserati GT-S and the Nissan GT-R, both on battery tenders and
pretty much left to wait the arrival of spring, that saw use only on major
summer treks including to Las Vegas and to Los Angeles where they both felt
very much at home. Compared to the Jeep,
absolutely luxurious to drive and vehicles that brought smiles to our faces
with every outing but with winter, unfortunately, they have been pushed out of
sight to be totally ignored until conditions improve.

We sold the Viper and for a good price it turned out to be – a matter of a few
weeks later Dodge dropped the price of new Vipers from $15K to $30K chipping
away considerable value from the previous models. But the bigger story is that
for the first time in goodness knows how many years, all of our vehicles, motor
cycles included, fit into our garage - all that is except the RV and the car
trailer. While none of the neighbors ever complained, it was against the policy
of the home owners association to keep a car on a driveway and we are now breathing
easier – there’s nothing more uncomfortable than being nervous about answering
the doorbell on the off chance it’s one of the association’s board members
coming to ask us to move a car, or two.

This year has seen a lot of road time for sure, but it’s
also been a time where Margo and I did a lot more together than I can recall
ever doing. Margo headed into back surgery late July and it was a difficult but
necessary procedure – Margo had reached a point late in 2013 where she
experienced difficulty walking with both nerve and bone causing her
considerable pain. The good news is that the surgery went spectacularly well
and she is completely over all the pain she had previously experienced. However
the down side was no opportunity to spend time in the race car so her time on
track was zero and our enthusiasm for attending track events somewhat
diminished.

If I were to summarize our many trips across America this year, the picture
above tells the story. Out in the middle of nowhere we would find a Starbucks
and take the time to stop, relax, and smell the coffee. As I said, the Jeep
became almost a second home but having an opportunity to stretch our legs, take
a look around, and simply let the stress seep from our bodies, was a priceless
experience (to paraphrase that popular commercial’s message). If the Jeep
always looks clean, it’s a trick of photography as it took a pounding – we
drove it to the south, to the east coast and to Canada and several times to
California and Nevada, and it never missed a beat.

While the days of 750 plus miles didn’t happen this year,
we still did more than our fair share of 600 plus miles – sometimes, back to
back. When you take into consideration that we drove from Boulder to Chicago in
two days and then just a day and a half to get to Philly, you get the picture.
As for Toronto to Boulder – well, that was an easy three day excursion. Margo
once told me to be careful what I wished for, in case it came true, but we have
become strong advocates of driving versus flying even though both of us passed
the million mile mark with one carrier, United, several years ago and in so
doing, enjoy many flying perks with Star Alliance.

Fortunately, being careful about what we wished for definitely has its
upside and this was especially the case this year. The company command center
is becoming a staple in our routine travels – when any business opportunity
comes up where driving the RV becomes an option then we jump at the
opportunity. While we will never become professional race car drivers, we enjoy
to participate at track events and it provides for us the opportunity to market
our company – many HP engineers, for instance, race cars and it has helped
cement our relationship with HP at certain levels. As for clients then the
chance for a ride along is rarely ignored and this helps differentiate our
company.

Being in business together, as is the case with Margo and myself, while
enjoyable in and of itself is a lonely experience all the same. While we know
our jobs, there’s much about running a business where we remain novices and so,
enjoying the support and fellowship of other likeminded business folks even if
they aren’t in the same marketplace, is something we have come to value highly.
On our last outing to Nevada in the command center we were able to enjoy a
weekend with such folks – Brian and Jan Kenny. Even deep inside a national
park, there was still an opportunity to share a bucket of ice cream (and yes,
an apple martini or two) and talk business.

Brian and Jan are a familiar site at race tracks we visit, indeed early in the
year we share calendars and pick events where we will all be participating. In
the last couple of years, Brian has advanced considerably – yes, the advantage
of youth – and is now “racing” in NASA’s Time Trial division. At a joint
Northern and Southern California NASA event at Laguna Seca he recorded the
fastest time for his group and that was a bittersweet moment as the previous
year, at the very same track, having recorded the best time in his first
session he had an on track encounter with the wall that negated that time. That
particular incident sidelined the Kenny Corvette for almost a year so being
back on track with Brian at Colorado’s High Plains Raceway was certainly a
highlight of 2014.

Tidying up the garage with the approach of winter and
checking that the cars are all on battery tenders gave me the opportunity to
snap the photo above. Nothing out of the ordinary, perhaps, and yet to the keen
eye there’s one more track decal applied. For me, the opportunity to
participate in the Dodge SRT program and run laps at Road Atlanta was a
highlight. Even if I felt the SRTs on hand weren’t a match for the Corvette,
the fact that the SRT line-up included a Jeep SRT identical to ours, meant that
I came away with a couple of sessions driving a Jeep on a race track and given
the wet conditions and poor visibility on an unfamiliar track, the fact that I
recorded my best time in a Jeep speaks volumes about its capabilities.

Would we like to run our Corvette around Road Atlanta – with the experience
already gained, you bet! But as happenstance would have it, there is now more
likelihood of a weekend in 2015 spent on a track a little further north, at
Watkins Glen. Business colleagues of ours turn out to be also members of NASA –
real racers, not HPDE participants like us – and late in April, 2015, there
will be a weekend for NASA at Watkins Glen. And this really goes to the heart
of what we like doing these days. Not for us spending time at just one or two
tracks and becoming “experts”, but using the opportunity to visit other tracks
as an excuse to see more of the country not unlike what others interested in
golf may elect to do!

Before closing this post, I have to add a couple of
comments about Brian and Jan’s grandson, Colton. Nothing sidelined Colton this
year and while he outdrove others in similar cars in the formula he pursued
this year, the win on Malaysia was a stand-out performance the likes of which
both families didn’t really expect. Having Brian and Jan at our home while this
all transpired and getting the updates, lap after lap, was exciting to be a part
of.

What’s next for Colton in 2015 I can only speculate about at this time,
but with F1 drivers now only 17 years old, turning 15 next year means Colton
will likely be taking another step up an inevitable ladder leading to something
similar and our best wishes go out to him and his family. It’s not like Margo
and I are making reservations for Spa in 2018 (2017?) but who knows, these days, and we
have always liked that part of Europe! Sneak in another session on the
Nürburgring Nordschleife on the other side of the Eifel forest and it could be the
perfect week!

The Jeep saw more usage this year than we had anticipated even as our Corvette
spent fewer days on track. A lot of this had to do with Margo recovering from
her surgery about which I can say a lot
more – it’s just so good to be able to write about the progress she has made
and the absolute out-of-sight improvement in her wellbeing. She will be back
behind the wheel of the Corvette in no time soon and that’s something I am
looking forward to – it’s been a bittersweet experience having an opportunity
to drive other tracks but without being able to share the experience with Margo
first hand, it’s all been rather a hollow! I miss being in the passenger seat
while she nails apexes just right!